The devil is in the details.

Tipped balls, bad passes and missed lay-ups are often as important in winning basketball games as making shots.

WSU beat the Illinois State Redbirds 85-66 Friday night by playing good defense and paying attention to the details.

With the win, head coach Jody Adams became the all-time leader in wins for a WSU Women’s Basketball head coach.

The Redbirds started the game on a 2-7 run with two quick threes.

WSU missed shots and trailed early.

WSU was down 13-18 with 10 minutes left in the half.

It wasn’t until Michelle Price tipped an Illinois State pass out of bounds and crashed into the scorers’ table that WSU came alive.

On the next play, Price stole the ball at half-court and made an easy lay-up. Price scored 11 points in the first half and finished with 15.

WSU guard Alex Harden then followed with a steal and lay-up.

That tied the game at 18-18.

WSU then had an 18-7 run fueled by steals and turnovers and pushed their lead to 36-25.

It was 40-33 at the halftime.

WSU started the second half with the same intensity.

The Shockers had two steals by Jamillah Bonner and Alex Harden in the first minute that led to easy lay-ups. Bonner led all scorers with 21 points.

Harden then made a couple of lay-ups to increase the lead.  She finished with 20 points and eclipsed 1,000 career points at WSU.

Eight minutes into the second half WSU pushed their lead to twenty—61-40

Illinois played fast but sloppy in the second half, and were uncomfortable against WSU’s defense.

The Shockers subbed in the bench with five minutes to go in the game and with a 76-51 lead.

WSU forced 30 turnovers in the win. They are now (22-3) overall and (13-1) in the Missouri Valley Conference.

“We missed the defensive pressure in the past few games,” Adams said. “It was nice to get back to it.”

The Shockers next play against Indiana State at 2 p.m. Sunday at Koch Arena.